Hailey crept through the house like a thief, barefoot, on tiptoe, and she had only the foggiest memory of where the kitchen was. She was determined, after a night like last night, that the least she could do was to play hunter-gatherer and fetch her and Ryder breakfast.

Not by cooking, of course—the poor guy had already had to choke down enough of her offerings. But she was sure someone must have put away the buffet food into Leo’s refrigerator and that was where she was headed.

Finally having located Leo’s orgasm-inducing kitchen—seriously, she wasn’t even a cook but she’d die for this kitchen with its sleek lines and every gadget under the sun—she headed for the fridge. Blissful cool curled out as she opened it and commenced foraging.

Mmm. Cake. It wouldn’t be so bad if she had a little bit, would it? She could snatch a little bit off the end and nobody would be any the wiser.

“Long night?”

She barely held back the squeak as she whirled to put her back against the fridge. “I wasn’t eating it,” she shrieked.

Ryder’s boss—Handler—eyed her and shrugged. “I’ve heard weirder greetings.” He pulled out one of the steel chairs at the breakfast bar and dropped into it. “Some party,” he said as an opening gambit. His hair stuck up one side like Sonic the Hedgehog’s.

Hailey licked her lips and wondered exactly how sex messed her hair looked. “Ah, yeah. It was good.”

“Especially the knife-throwing thing.”

She frowned. “Knives?” She hadn’t signed off on that.

“Oh, and the bit with the apple on the head? Classic. Made even better when the Genie made it bob up and down.”

“I didn’t—”

“And the bonfire at the end where we threw the bar and the dance floor into a pile and set them ablaze?” Luka whistled. “What a show.”

Ryder had paid deposits on those.

About to go into meltdown, Hailey caught a flicker of mischief in Luka’s eyes and calmed. “You’re joking.”

“Yeah. It’s kind of my thing.” Luka peered past her into the open fridge. “Anything left? I could eat a roasted pig.”

“There’s fruit.”

Luka sighed. “Yum.”

Things didn’t get more bizarre than having sex with your boyfriend in his twin’s house and breakfasting with his boss the next morning.

But she was go-with-the-flow Hailey now, or at least more that way than stick-up-her-ass Hailey, so she gamely placed the platter piled with fruit on the breakfast bar and took her seat.

Luka picked up a slice of pineapple. “So. The girl who tames Genies.”

For you. Ryder’s sexy-as-sin voice.

She hid the blush by selecting some mango. “So. The boss who never takes anything seriously.”

“Aw, he talks about me.” Luka considered her as he licked his fingers clean. “You’re not what I pictured.”

Bristling, Hailey stared the Genie down.

“Very good,” he approved. “Tingles in all the right places.”

She sighed. Never was much of a bad cop. “Did you want me to fetch Ryder?”

“When we’re having such a nice talk?” He laughed at her wry look. “Sorry. You get used to me after a while. It’s like learning to put up with a clock ticking in the background. Eventually you don’t even notice it anymore.”

He was possibly the strangest person she’d ever met, and yet, somehow, he had a charm all his own.

Luka offered her an apple. “You’re good for him, you know?”

Hailey took it and inspected its surface. “So everyone keeps telling me.”

“He’s good for you, too.”

Surprised, her eyes moved from the apple to the Handler’s face.

He wore confidence like the hideous shirt and cargo shorts, uncaring if it was considered rude to poke into his employee’s relationships. Or a friend’s, or whatever Luka was to Ryder.

“Yes,” she said, biting into the apple. Juice exploded on her tongue as she swallowed. “He is.”

“Good. That’s how love should be. And ain’t it grand?”

She sidestepped his pointed use of love, turning the subject on him. “Have you got someone . . . ?”

“Special? Nah. Genies my age, we don’t get with the whole messy-love thing.”

“How old are you?” Her gaze traveled up and down his buff body. He didn’t look any older than thirty-five.

His eyes glittered with silver flecks. Powerful. Flirtatious. “To get that information you need a bottle of Glenlivet, two shot glasses, and lingerie too filthy to even look at.”

She laughed.

He smiled in return. “It’s hard for us,” he said, his expression contemplative. “Genies live so long, see so much. It can be excruciating to let yourself care for someone mortal. That’s why I’m so easy come, easy go.” He grinned.

Mortal.

As if hearing the word for the first time, it imploded in her mind, all the ramifications.

Suddenly the apple tasted like ash.

“Mortal,” she repeated. Her chest grew tight as thoughts swirled chaotically. “You mean, because we die.”

Her expression registered and his smile slipped. “No, no,” he said, warding her off that path. “I didn’t say that.”

Mortal.

Jesus.

Another thought tagged on. Ryder would have to lose yet another person he cared about.

“I don’t think I like the expression on your face. Let’s get back to talking about Ryder and how great you are together.”

She’d been worrying about her rapidly growing feelings, what that meant for her, when she should’ve been focused on Ryder. Poor Ryder who’d lost so much in his life.

Maybe . . .

Maybe she should let him go now before they both got any deeper.

At the thought, something in her stomach settled, like waves dying down. She could even draw the first good breath since Leo had brought up the L word the night before.

That must mean she was right. She had to let Ryder go.

“Look, my mouth can jabber on without my brain getting involved. Forget I said the mortal thing. Love conquers all.” Luka smiled, but his eyes were shadowed with panic.

Hailey slid off the stool and after a second glanced at him. Her words were soft like the first lights of dawn. “Not always.”

As she walked out of the open French doors onto the deck, the beach her destination, she was sure she heard the esteemed Handler mutter a vicious, “Fuck.”

* * *

“There you are.”

Hailey’s gut roiled at the sound of Ryder’s voice. She’d known he’d find her sooner or later—not like she could leave Malibu without booking a plane ticket—but the coward in her wished it had been later.

His arms came around her waist, his chin settling on her head as he hunched over. “You were gone when I woke up.”

She kept staring at the waves. “I went looking for breakfast.”

“You didn’t make any, right?”

A faint smile lifted her lips. “No.”

It was a gorgeous day, despite it being October. Calm. The sky so blue it looked as endless as the ocean beneath and so beautiful it hurt to look. She’d thought she might find words in that beauty, but what words were there to tell someone good-bye?

“Do you miss it?”

Hailey started at Ryder’s question. “What?”

“The sea? Your dad took you out a lot, right?”

“Yeah.” Hailey closed her eyes and absorbed how it felt to have Ryder’s warmth surrounding her. “I miss it.”

They were quiet again, but unlike the other times, this silence spoke of tension.

“What’s wrong, Hales?” Ryder’s hand smoothed across her stomach, comforting.

Nothing. But the word choked. Because everything was wrong. And the sooner she said it, the better.

Never let them see a Lawson sweat.

Hailey swallowed hard and walked forward, breaking Ryder’s grip. The toughest part was turning, seeing his face, the concern in his eyes as he studied her tormented expression.

No. She changed her mind. This was the toughest part. She hated the idea she’d hurt him, but it was for the best. She’d thought about it for the hour he’d been sleeping, watched the waves toss and knew they’d be better if they both got out now.

Like a Band-Aid.

“We can’t see each other anymore,” she said, the words almost lost to the shushing waves.

At first he smiled as if it were a joke he didn’t get but thought he should laugh anyway. Almost immediately his expression crumpled in on itself. “What?”

Hailey inhaled. “We can’t see each other anymore.”

Thoughts raced across his face, each one more perplexed than the last. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Did I do something?”

“No.” She shook her head in a violent negative. “No.”

“Then why?”

God, this was hard. No, hard wasn’t even the word. Her heart was ripping, one slow tear at a time.

“I just . . .” She swallowed on a wave of pain. “Look, this was fun, but let’s be honest. It was never going to last.”

His gaze was like a brand as he stared down at her. “Where the hell is this coming from?”

She indicated herself and him with a hand that trembled. “You’re a spontaneous, fun-loving guy. I’m an organized-freak wedding planner. Nobody would put us together.”

“Who cares what anyone thinks?” He took her hands. “Has someone said something to you? Tell me who and I’ll make them sorry.”

She couldn’t do this with him touching her. Already her resolve was folding like a cheap table. She tugged her hands away.

“What is it?” She heard traces of panic in his voice as he obviously realized she was serious. “Is it the women last night? I never thought of any of them, Hailey.”

“I know.”

“Then what? The press?”

“No.” Another breath, another rip in her heart as she opened her eyes and found his full of pain. “It’s not about you, Ryder. It’s about me.”

Shadows blanked his gaze. “Really? You’re going to go with ‘It’s not you, it’s me’?”

“It is me.” She looked upward for strength, then back with resolution. “You’re a Genie,” she repeated.

“Last I checked.”

The memory of their first meeting slapped her in the face, her stammering, his wry tone.

Except this time his tone wasn’t wry, it bordered on angry. And no wonder. The lump in her throat continued to rise to the height of Mount Fuji as she gestured at herself. “I’m mortal.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious. What the hell does it matter that I’m a Genie and you’re a mortal?”

She took his anger. It was better than his pain. “Mortal, Ryder. Not a mortal, but mortal.”

“And?”

“I’m going to die.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Maybe not now, not tomorrow, but some day, my heart will stop.”

It made him falter, but only for a second. He shook his head. “Some day. Why should that matter now?”

“It’ll hurt less now.” She licked her lips and tasted salt. “You’ve already lost so much. I don’t want to be the next person you watch die.”

“This is a really lousy way of dumping someone. Putting it all on me.” He backed away from her to pace. His feet sank into the sand.

“I’m not putting it on you.” She dragged her hands through her hair. “Do you think I want to do this?”

“Yes,” he challenged, whirling.

She stared, dumbfounded. “What?”

“You always do what you want to, Hailey. You’re right—this is all about you.”

Her laugh was a crack. “You think I wanted to plan my ex’s wedding?”

“Why else would you?”

“To get the promotion!”

“Really? Is that really why you did it?”

She stared at him. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I think on some level, it suited you to have that reminder.” His eyes were burning as an automatic refusal leapt to her lips. “Like holding on to the bullshit reasons he fed you for the breakup. All to protect yourself from giving away control and getting hurt again. Guess what, Hailey: when you care for someone, you’ve already lost control.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” This wasn’t going how she’d thought it would. Hurt shaded her as she swallowed. “Go ahead, attack. Doesn’t mean I’m not right.”

“You know what I think?” He stormed forward, a towering wall of hurt Genie. “I think you’re running scared.”

Tackled in the dark. She shook her head. Then again. “No, that’s not what this is.”

“Sure it is.” He laughed, but it wasn’t amused. He combed a hand through his hair. “Unbelievable. I thought I was the one who had issues, but you’re as screwed up as I am.”

It was too much. “I’m leaving,” she said as calmly as she could. “I’ll have Leo take me back to New York.”

“Running?” he taunted.

“Why would I be running?” she threw back at him, her own temper on the boil.

“Because you feel too much, too fast, and it scares you.” He caught her arm and reeled her in. “You think feeling too much this soon is an invitation to have someone walk all over you.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He shook her. “Don’t lump me in with your ex. I wouldn’t ever do to you what he did.”

“It’s not about Ethan,” she cried, refusing to hear any more. She tugged at his hold until she slid free. “It’s about saving us both pain down the line. We were never going to work.”

“You don’t have a lot of faith, do you?”

“Why should I?” She ran a hand over her face, gave her head a shake. “Enough. I’m going.”

“Don’t you want to know how I feel?” he shouted to her back as she walked toward the house.

“No.” Because if he said anything right now, she’d tip over the edge.

“Stop walking away.” He flashed in front of her and held up his hands to stay her. “Let me say how I feel.”

“No.” She held her hands over her ears as she dodged around him.

“Oh, that’s mature,” she heard him say as if underwater.

She spun. “It’s too damn hard, Ryder. Leave it alone. We’re done.”

“You’re a coward, Hailey.” His angry words slapped her in the face. “You got so burned with Ethan you’re refusing to give us a chance. You’re terrified of giving yourself over to me, giving up your heart. Of letting go.”

She went to retort, but what was the point? Nothing he said could change her mind.

She’d almost made it to the deck when his voice stopped her. “What about the wish?”

Hailey braced a hand against the French door. “You think I care about that right now?”

“Care about it or don’t, we have an oral contract.” His voice was harder than she’d ever heard it. “Make a wish.”

The kitchen was fuzzy through the tears that threatened to break through. She only wanted one thing and that was impossible.

So she did the next best thing. “I wish that New York General gets all the funding required to outfit the children’s wing with whatever they want. Toys, books, food. New research methods. Anything that will help them.”

She didn’t know whether that would help any survive, but at least what little life they had would be filled with magic.

“It’s done.” There was no indication in his voice if he approved or disapproved of her wish.

And so went their last need for contact.

Her shoulders squared for the final steps.

“Be sure, Hailey.” A final warning reverberated in his voice before she could move.

She closed her eyes, locked tight all the pain. And took the final step.